Argelès-sur-Mer is an extremely popular tourist destination. It is the most important seaside resort in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the Occitania region (France). Moreover, it’s regarded as Europe’s camping capital.
It’s a popular part of the Vermillion coast of the Mediterranean resorts of France.
We had the privilege of talking to the Mayor of Argelès-sur-Mer, Antoine Parra:
“Argelès-sur-Mer is a city surrounded by nature that attracts many tourists. But in the beginning it was an agricultural city, and this can still be felt in its narrow streets. In the 1970s, about 80% of the vineyards had disappeared and tourism began to develop, especially after France introduced paid holidays. At that time, French people who had worked year-round flocked to the campsites to spend their holidays. That’s why today the city has become Europe’s camping capital, with no fewer than 48 campsites!
Argelès-sur-Mer is an exceptional city where the sea, marshes and mountains meet. It’s at sea level, but if you are up for the hike, in less than two hours you’ll reach an altitude of 1,255 metres.
The number of permanent residents is around 11,000, while the city has the capacity to accommodate 150,000 people.
Everyone knows that the Pyrenees plunge into the Mediterranean, and that’s what you can see in Argelès itself. The sandy coastline of the Mediterranean basin—from the Maritime Alps—meets its limit here. This is where sand transformes into rock (there are 7 kilometres of sandy beaches and 2 kilometres of rocky beaches).
In France, there are 156 national nature reserves with two of them in Argelès-sur-Mer. The 160-hectare Réserve naturelle du Mas Larrieu to the north of the city is a showcase of fabulous biodiversity. The Massane National Nature Reserve, also known as the Couloumates forest, is located in the easternmost part of the Albères massif and covers 300 hectares at an altitude of between 600 and 1150 m. The Albères massif with a wooded landscape, notably a cork oak forest, is a perfect place to walk with shady landscapes.
Our city is the most popular seaside resort, with 90% of visitors returning. And the tourist demand is strong year-round.
Turning to history, I cannot fail to mention a terrible story that left a deep impression on the Argelès community. During the Spanish Civil War, when the so-called Retirada took place, Argelès-sur-Mer took in 200,000 refugees in just a few weeks, despite having no means to do so. Today, many of their grandchildren come here to try to relive and understand their grandparents’ ordeal. A museum has been created for this purpose. And the Spanish cemetery pays tribute to all the children who were born and died in the camp…
At present, we’re very keen to develop cross-border links, because Argelès is very popular with people from the Girona and Barcelona regions (Catalonia, Spain). When we celebrate the anniversary of the Éric Cantona stadium (a football player whose parents fled the Francisco Franco regime and came through Argelès-sur-Mer), we organised a match between the Argelès and Spanish teams.
We try to set up twinning arrangements and share the culture we have in common at patron saint and village festivals. These are customs that have endured in Spanish Catalonia and that we are in the process of reintroducing here in French Catalonia. We dance the giant’s dance, a typical Catalan tradition.
In terms of education, we have set up a bilingual school where the children study in French and Catalan.
Gastronomy tourism is very important for us. This is the centre of barbecue in French Catalonia. Here it’s called grillade, whether it’s sausage, brisket or even snail grill. That scares a people at the beginning, but is absolutely delicious and it’s one of the hallmarks of our gastronomy.
There are two cooked dishes that are truly typical of our region. The first one is ouillade, it´s stew made from cabbage, potatoes and sagi (the fat extracted from the abdominal wall of the pig and salted with dry salt). The second most popular dish is meatballs cooked in sauce.
I’m very good at making ouillade, meatballs, and snail grill! I love to cook. When I finish my meetings, sometimes they’re a bit tense, I even arrive home at midnight, and I start cooking. That’s what clears my head.
What I really like is going to Spanish Catalonia, where I find that the truly Catalan traditions are much better preserved. And I love getting back to my Catalan roots. I like Olot, Garrotxa and trips to Andorra, especially when I travel with my wife.
Otherwise, whenever I can, I like to go in the middle of nowhere to spend time in peace and quiet.
I’m also a very happy dad, with four children and five grandchildren who I spend time with when I am free.
As for the city’s main investment projects, I could mention the refurbishment of the seafront over a distance of about 3 kilometres to create spaces for intergenerational sports. We are in the process of enlarging the port. This is an extremely important project to accommodate larger boats.
Argelès-sur-Mer is an old city that has been divided up. The port area, the green zone and the beach area feel detached. It’s as if Argelès-sur-Mer were an archipelago with little ‘islands’ all around. I wanted to bring this archipelago together. To achieve this, we’ve redone the cycle paths to make them safe and very pleasant because they’re planted with trees and landscaped with greenery.
We’ve set up a transport service with electric buses that are virtually free, so it’s easy to get around.
We are also in the process of creating public services, such as mail service at the beach”.
By Irina Rybalchenko
